The field of the disclosure relates generally to object recognition systems, and in particular, to such systems capable of detecting and tracking a quantity of items in a particular location using optical means. In some embodiments, such systems may be useful to track items and improve inventory techniques in the grocery and retail environment.
In many conventional grocery and retail establishments, items for sale typically include identifiers printed on or otherwise affixed to the items, such as optical codes, barcodes, RFID tags, or other suitable machine-readable indicia. These identifiers carry a variety of item-specific information, such as item identification, price, SKU information, etc. In many instances, these identifiers are used not only during a retail checkout process to tally items for payment, but also as a means for managing inventory by tracking sales, movement, and/or removal of items from the retail establishment.
For certain items, such as produce, it may be fairly expensive and/or time-consuming to affix an identifier to each individual item, or it may be challenging in some instances to do so based on the size, shape, and characteristics of the items (e.g., wet or waxy skins, irregular shapes, etc.). Moreover, in many instances where the identifiers (e.g., stickers and labels) remain affixed to the item, they are usually small and difficult to read with current scanning equipment or other related methods. Accordingly, it is generally difficult to precisely count and track produce and other similar items with conventional tools and methods.
The present inventor has therefore recognized a need for improved object recognition systems and methods, such systems and methods providing improved counting and tracking capabilities without reliance on barcodes or other identifiers affixed to the object. Additional aspects and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description of example embodiments, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Understanding that the drawings depict only certain embodiments and are not, therefore, to be considered limiting in nature, these embodiments will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail with reference to the drawings.